Only by God's Sovereign Will

This past week has been one that only God could have orchestrated. I went to Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) in Washington D.C. for the morning service.  I got their at what I though was a good time and I was wrong. The only seats open were in the balcony and behind the pulpit. The service was amazing. There was lots of prayers and the songs were just Christ-centered. They were old hymns but there were some newer songs. The sermon was gospel-centered and the gospel was proclaimed. It was just a big encouragement to seat through.

After the service, the gentlemen seating next to me asked who I was. He saw my face and told me his name was Scott. I then said his full name and then he realized that we have meet before. We did meet the first time I was at CHBC in February. He asked if I had any plans for the day. I told him that my plans were to visit the National Mall and walk around (I thought about witnessing to people also). He invited me to lunch. We had lunch a the Eastern Market, which is only a couple of block from CHBC. We had a delightful time. We encouraged each other as I talked a little about what God had thought me through my deployment, especially James 4:6. We found out that we had lot in common with what we are dealing with in our lives.

After our talk, I would go on to the National Mall and he would meet with a member of CHBC. I would continue to think about the chat and the sermon. I would also attend the night service and be blessed with even more prayer and communion. It was just an amazing day in God's presence.

This happened because of God. CHBC is a larger church and I would have never seen Scott again unless God ordained the meeting, which he did. To God be all the glory.

Feeling empty? I am.

Why am I so empty. The preacher does not preach the word. I went to church yesterday and left feeling nothing. I was not glorifying God but questions the message. We are suppose to go to church to worship God with singing and preaching from his word. The word should be taught with principles which is theology. That was not the cause here at NSF Diego Gracia. The music seemed to be slammed together and the message was weak. The messages was about divorce. He started out good by exampling the what just happen before and about the people that was challenging him. He went off the deep end when he started to preach morality. It was a more do not do this but do this. This is not how we learn. The message just made me feel I was missing the food, the word of God. I think that God was not in the message. One thing I have found out about preaching is that the best preachers teach the word of God. Listen to Piper, MacArthur, Dever, Washer, Spurgeon, and many others and you see the difference. NSF Diego Gracia is a good place but the worship with other believers just is not there. Anyways, I am going to read now by the ocean and I will catch everyone on the flip side.